ASTRAKHAN. Oct 27 (Interfax) - The police in Astrakhan are searching for a convicted "bandit" who escaped from a local mental hospital on Nachalovsky road, the regional interior ministry stated on Tuesday.
"[Magomed] Alkhanov, b. 1982, is wanted after fleeing custody at a psychiatric hospital on October 26," the statement said.
The man was in the hospital to undergo a medical examination, a source told Interfax.
According to regional investigators, Alkhanov was detained in the summer for his role in an attack on 6th company, 104th regiment, 76yh Pskov Airborne Troops Division, in the mountains near Ulus Kert village in Chechnya's Shato district on February 29, 2000. At the time, Alkhanov was a member of the gang led by Basayev and Khattab. The attack left 84 troops dead and four with various injuries.
Alkhanov was convicted for banditry.